What A Christmas!
by GomaMizu
Summary: Tai and Koushiro exchange strange Christmas gifts, and Koushiro twists his ankle?! A bit of fluffy Taishiro....


What A Christmas!  
by GomaMizu  
  
A/N - Let's see...this is kind of a side story to "Izumi no Hikari," taking place probably between chapters 3 & 4 of that story. The only thing you might need to understand from that story is Nika, who is kind of self-explanatory - she's Koushiro's sister. I think that's probably the only thing that needs to be explained...I'll get on with it now. Enjoy the story!  
  
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"Kari!" Five year old Nika Izumi cried as her babysitter for the afternoon walked in the door.  
  
"Hey there, Nika." Kari Kamiya answered the hyper young girl.  
  
"Hello, Kari." Nika's mother greeted her. "Thanks for coming over."  
  
Kari just smiled and answered "No problem." She paused for a moment. "Where's her brother?" Kari asked, wondering.  
  
"I thought he was over at your place..." Their mother trailed off as Kari shook her head in the negative.  
  
"Nope. Tai was going Christmas shopping today, and I believe Koushiro is on his list." Kari told her.  
  
Mrs. Izumi just shook her head. "Then I have no clue where he is. Maybe he's doing the same thing as Tai. And us too." She said, implying herself and her husband as they were donning their coats. "Behave yourself, Nika!" She said as she and her husband left.  
  
"Gatomon didn't come with you?" Nika asked, kind of disappointed that the cat-like digimon didn't accompany her partner. Kari shook her head.  
  
"No. Sorry, Nika-chan."  
  
"It's okay." Nika sighed.  
  
"You wanna do something?" Kari asked.  
  
"Like what?" Nika asked, somewhat suspicious.  
  
"Let's go Christmas shopping for our brothers. You do have some money, don't you?" Nika nodded in answer, brightening up a bit.  
  
"Do I get to come too?" The light purple motimon that was Nika's partner asked.  
  
Nika looked at Kari, practically begging her to say it was alright.  
  
"Yes, you can come too." Kari said, thinking that she would probably regret that.  
  
"Whoo-hoo!" Nika and her partner cheered in unison. Nika hurriedly put on her coat. "Let's go!" She said excitedly.  
  
"Alright, already. Hold on a second," Kari said as she got her coat back on. "Do you have a house key?" Kari asked Nika. She didn't really want to have to explain to Nika's parents, or her brother, why they got locked out.  
  
Nika lifted a lanyard keychain from around her neck. "Right here." She said. With that, they left.  
  
  
"This is impossible!" Tai Kamiya said, trying to figure out what to get his boyfriend for Christmas. Sure, he knew his boyfriend's tastes, but...well... It didn't help much. That, and the fact that the stores were all busy this time of year. He was being jostled this way and that, knocking what little concentration he had in the first place away.  
  
The frustration of the day was starting to mount, when he saw the few people that might be able to help him. "Kari! What are you doing here? Aren't you babysitting?" He asked.  
  
"I am." Kari answered, pointing to Nika and her motimon.  
  
"Oh." Tai said, leaning against the shelf.  
  
"Still haven't figured out what to get him, huh?" Kari asked.  
  
Tai shook his head. "It's impossible. I want to get him something I know he'll like, but..." He trailed off.  
  
Kari sighed. "Tai, I'm sure that as long it's from you he won't care what you got him." She paused for a few seconds. "I can't believe I said something so corny."  
  
Tai laughed at his younger sister. "Nice try, Kari." He said, momentarily forgetting his plight.  
  
Nika was standing close to Kari when something caught her eyes. "Kari! Look!" Nika pointed to something on the other end of the shelf that Tai had been leaning against. "It's cute." She said, pointing at a small, glass sculpture.  
  
"It is." Kari agreed with her. "Hey, Tai, come here." Kari called to her brother.  
  
"What?" He asked, aggravated, but wandering towards the girls.  
  
"Look at this." Kari said and pointed. Tai got a huge grin on his face.  
  
"Thank you soooo much, girls!" He said, and picked up the thing gingerly. "I'll probably get killed for this, but, what the hell...?" He shrugged. "Oops...Sorry." He apologized for his language, forgetting that Nika was still young and impressionable.  
  
  
"Ah, Christmas...the time of year that drives me nuts!" Koushiro Izumi said under his breath. 'Just one more gift, and I'll be done with this.' He thought. Unfortunately, he didn't have a clue as to what to get that one last person.  
  
"Still trying to figure out what to get Tai?" His digimon partner, Tentomon, asked. Koushiro just nodded in answer. "How about...?" Tentomon started, but didn't finish as Koushiro interrupted him.  
  
"How about you not worry about it?" He asked, kind of annoyed by the bug at the moment. "Sorry, but, well, I really hate this time of year."   
  
"Oh? But why? It seems festive; why would you hate that?" Tentomon asked.  
  
"Just makes me think about some things...don't worry about it, bud." Koushiro told him.  
  
"Oh, alright." Tentomon said. They walked along in silence for a while, when Koushiro stopped suddenly and started grinning like an idiot.  
  
"I guess this was easier than I thought." He said, staring at something.  
  
"You wouldn't?!" Tentomon said in shock, not thinking for a moment that Koushiro would actually buy that for his boyfriend.  
  
"Why not?" He asked in all seriousness.  
  
"Taichi is going to kill you."   
  
"I know." Koushiro said, not caring.  
  
"Love sure makes you do strange things..." Tentomon commented as he flew to catch up to his partner.  
  
  
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! It's Christmas!!!" Nika screeched at an ungodly hour. Well, it felt ungodly to her brother anyway.  
  
"Nika, calm down and go back to bed. It's only 6:30!" Koushiro told her.  
  
"But I'm too excited!" She protested.  
  
"I don't care. You and the mochi, back in bed now!" He told Nika and her 'mon as he pulled the blanket over his head and rolled over to try and go back to sleep.  
  
Nika stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun anymore, Koushiro."  
  
"I know I'm not." He answered.  
  
Nika just forgot about that and left their shared room.   
  
"She's going to get me yet, isn't she?" Koushiro said more or less to himself. "Not much sense staying in bed now..." He muttered as he followed his sister.  
  
"Good morning, kids." Their mother said, surprised at how early they had gotten up, but not surprised that Nika was cheery and Koushiro was being a bit of a grump. He never was much of a morning person.  
  
"Let me know when it's noon..." Koushiro grumbled as he sat on the couch.  
  
"Aww...but oniichan!!" Nika whined.  
  
"Why don't you give Nika your gift and I'll make sure she doesn't bother you if you want to go back to bed." Their mother said.  
  
"Thank you!" Koushiro said, and did just that. He was grinning as Nika opened it.  
  
"A stuffed bug?" Nika said, looking at it.   
  
"Yup. You'll understand soon enough why I gave you that...maybe." He told her. "Now that that's over, I'm going back to bed." He said as he slunk back to the bedroom.  
  
"Mama, what's up with him?" Nika asked.  
  
"No clue, hon, no clue." She was told.  
  
  
"Koushiro..." Nika started, trying to wake him up. He muttered something unintelligible. "Mom says to get up already, dinner's ready." He still didn't make much of an effort to get up. "She also said that the 'mons could attack you if you didn't."  
  
"They wouldn't..." He said.  
  
"Well...They might." She said. "Anyway...Tai's called a couple times already today..." She said in a singsong voice. That woke him up.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" He jumped and got dressed. Nika just rolled her eyes.  
  
"Brothers..." She sighed.  
  
After the family had ate dinner, Koushiro called Tai back to see what he wanted. It turned out that he just wanted to meet somewhere to exchange their gifts.  
  
  
"Tai, I think I'm going to kill you..." Koushiro muttered under his breath as he watched the vapor from his words escape. 'It's waaay too cold out here...' He thought as he waited for Tai.  
  
"Hey!" Tai called as he approached the anxious red head. "Merry Christmas, love." He said as he greeted Koushiro with a hug.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Koushiro answered.  
  
"Come on, don't be like that...I thought you were over that..." Tai said.  
  
"I thought I was too...I just think about things too much. Just missing them, that's all." Koushiro said.  
  
"Don't." Tai said simply. Then he grinned. "Maybe this will cheer you up a bit." He said as he held out his small box to his boyfriend. "Careful, it's glass." He warned.  
  
"What is it?" Koushiro asked. Tai just kept grinning.  
  
"Open it and find out..."  
  
Koushiro did just that. Inside was a glass sculpture of...a ladybug?!! "Taichi!!" Koushiro said somewhat aghast, then started laughing. "You know, I got Nika a stuffed one." He told Tai. Tai started laughing as well.  
  
"Hmmm...Strange. I know you had to have gotten me something..." Tai said.  
  
"Maybe I didn't..." Koushiro said teasingly. "Of course I did." He laughed as he handed over his small package.   
  
Tai tore into the package. "I don't believe this..." Tai said, holding up a pair of goggles almost like the ones he gave to Daisuke.  
  
"You don't look right without them...or so I think." Koushiro grinned, blushing a bit.  
  
"Thank you. I kind of regret giving them away." Tai said, putting them on around his neck.  
  
"Now you look like Tai again." Koushiro said, moving the goggles to the top of Tai's head. He quickly stole a kiss.  
  
"I love you sooo much, you know." Tai said, laughing a bit.  
  
"I know." Koushiro just smirked. Tai playfully swung at him, which was ducked. "Ah, you know better than that!" Koushiro said as he started running away from Tai. Unfortunately, he slid on the ice and fell on his rear.  
  
Tai, more carefully than his boyfriend, ran and caught up to him. "Are you okay, Izzy?" He asked. Koushiro was trying to get up, but couldn't because he had twisted his ankle.   
  
Running through every curse word in any language he could think of before answering Tai, Koushiro finally said he wasn't. "I hurt my ankle."  
  
Tai helped him up and supported his weight as he tested his foot once he was up again. Koushiro winced as the pain shot up his leg. "Guess I'll have to walk you home." Tai grinned.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"I should be the one who's sorry. Of course, I don't think either of us expected that..." Tai said. They walked towards Koushiro's home in silence after that.  
  
They arrived at the door. "Thanks for helping me get home, Tai."   
  
"I don't know why you started running in the first place. You knew it was icy..." Tai said.  
  
"Let's just say that sometimes, well, I probably didn't deserve the crest of knowledge..."  
  
"I noticed..." Tai said dryly. He opened the door and help Koushiro limp in.  
  
"What happened to you?" Koushiro's mom asked.  
  
Koushiro blushed as he explained. "I slipped on the ice...I think I twisted my ankle."  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Nika asked as she saw her brother limping.  
  
"Shut up, Hikari." He told her, using her real name instead of her nickname.  
  
"I'll go get some ice." His mom said and left the room.  
  
"I need to be going. See you for the New Year's party?" Tai asked.  
  
"I'll be there...if I'm not on crutches." Koushiro answered.  
  
"The way you're going, you just might be." Tai said.  
  
"Thanks a lot!" Koushiro said, and unable to hit Tai from where he was on the bed, he threw the pillow at him, which missed due to Tai ducking at the last moment. Tai picked it up, and gave it back. He quickly kissed his love.  
  
"You'll be fine, Kou-chan." Tai told him. "See you later."  
  
"See you..." Koushiro said. 'Boy, some Christmas this turned out to be...' He thought to himself as his mom returned with an ice pack.  
  
"Hey," Nika started. She held out something to Koushiro. "You forgot about your present." She said simply, handing it to him.  
  
"If this is another bug..." He muttered, opening it. "Holy moly! I don't believe this." He said.  
  
"Can I have your old one?" Nika asked.  
  
"In a few years, yes." He answered, still staring in awe. "I think I'm the happiest person on earth right now."  
  
The End...until the New Year's party! 


End file.
